Most everyone can tell you that utility bills have gone up dramatically in 2023. While the politicians point fingers at who is to blame, the average American household has seen the costs of power, water and natural gas go up over the past twelve months.
A Rome Floyd County Fire Department corporal was killed Friday evening in a single vehicle wreck in Paulding County. According to Georgia State Patrol reports: Garrett Kent was killed in the wreck on Pine Shadows Drive after his Ford F-250 exited the roadway on a curve and struck a mailbox as well as a group of trees. The report stated that Kent was not wearing a seatbelt and was pronounced dead at the scene. “It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Corporal Garrett Kent. We ask that you keep his family and our department’s brothers and sisters in your prayers during this difficult time,” a post to the fire department’s social media pages read.
On Christmas Eve, law enforcement learned about the body of a fifty-year-old woman that was dumped on the side of a rural Chattoogaville Road in southern Chattooga County. The body turned out to be that of Summerville resident Sherri Little. Officers gathered enough evidence to get a warrant for the suspect, identified as forty-four-year-old John Wayne Siffles. Siffles was shot and killed by law enforcement while trying to serve the warrant. As is standard procedure, the GBI was called in to investigate the officer-involved shooting. It marked the 101st such incident in 2023.
A forty-nine-year-old Rockmart man was arrested on Christmas Eve at the Department of Family and Children Service’s building on Riverside Parkway in Rome. According to Floyd County Police reports, James Corey Espy was accused of attempting to strangle a woman and then destroyed $500 worth of the woman’s property. The incident happened just after 3 PM on December 24th. Espy was arrested and jailed on charges of aggravated assault and criminal trespass and was booked into the Floyd County Jail.
Last month, Mohawk Industries hosted nine blood drives at its manufacturing plants across Northwest Georgia, including the plant in Summerville. The blood drives netted 177 units of blood that were distributed to various hospitals across the area.
On behalf of Georgia’s 3,500 cotton farming families, the Georgia Cotton Commission recently donated 12,000 pairs of socks to various homeless shelters and relief agencies across the state, including here in Chattooga County.
Here is the latest arrest report from the Chattooga County Sheriff’s Office for Tuesday, December 26, 2023:
U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia), has vowed to help two federal agencies responsible for child welfare to develop the tools needed to protect foster children from abuse and neglect. He and Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee are criticizing the lax oversight by state and federal child welfare agencies in protecting missing children in foster care.
The GBI charged Cecil Giddens, age 79, of Enigma, on Wednesday, December 20, 2023, with simple battery, two counts of simple assault, two counts of battery, and two counts of disorderly conduct. Giddens is the Mayor of Enigma, Georgia. He turned himself in without incident to the Berrien County Jail on Thursday, December 21, 2023.
After a warm, rainy and windy Christmas Day for 2023, it looks like we will be starting the New Year with colder and more seasonable temperatures. Yesterday, the National Weather Service issued a wind advisory and the temperature got into the mid-60’s; about 15-20 degrees warmer than the average Christmas Day in Northwest Georgia. After some foggy conditions this morning, it will be drying out today and we will see partly-cloudy skies and high’s in the low 60′ with lows overnight in the 40’s. As we head toward the weekend, temperatures will be steadily getting colder with highs by New Year’s Eve in the upper 40’s to low 50’s and lows overnight in the upper 20’s. For the first day of 2024, it looks like we will see highs in 40’s and lows overnight in the mid to upper 20’s.
